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Monday, 4 July 2016

Record temperatures in New Zealand and sea temperature anomalies off the charts

First
6 months of 2016 hottest ever recorded in New Zealand

Ski
fields are struggling to open and winter electricity consumption is
down in New Zealand after the first six months of 2016 proved to be
the hottest start to a year that scientists have ever recorded

FILE
- In this Feb. 6, 2016 file photo, tourist relax at the end of the
track at the Franz Josef Glacier in New Zealand. Ski fields are
struggling to open and winter electricity consumption is down in New
Zealand after the first six months of 2016 proved to be the hottest
start to a year that scientists have ever recorded. Temperatures in
the South Pacific nation were 1.4 degrees Celsius (2.5 Fahrenheit)
above the long-term average for the first half of the year, according
to the government-funded National Institute of Water and Atmospheric
Research.(AP Photo/Nick Perry)

Temperatures
in the South Pacific nation were 1.4 degrees Celsius (2.5 Fahrenheit)
above the long-term average for the first half of the year, according
to the government-funded National Institute of Water and Atmospheric
Research.

That's
the highest since record-keeping began more than a century ago, and
significantly higher than the previous record of 1.1 Celsius above
average, reached in 1938 and again in 1999.

Chris
Brandolino, a scientist at the research agency, said Monday that
ocean temperatures in the Tasman Sea to the west of New Zealand have
been unusually warm this year and that warmer winds from the north
have also predominated.

"What's
happened in the background is that the Earth has continued to warm as
greenhouse gas levels have risen," he said.

The
agency reported that carbon dioxide levels recorded at a station near
Wellington passed 400 parts per million in June for the first time.
The threshold is seen as significant internationally as an indicator
of climate change.

While
many New Zealanders reveled in a summer that never seemed to end,
commercial ski fields including Coronet Peak, Mount Hutt and Turoa
have found themselves with little snow, electing to delay opening or
operating with limited runs as the Southern Hemisphere winter gets
underway.

Brandolino
said the rise in average temperatures doesn't necessarily mean the
ski season will be bad, "although if I'm a skier or snow
enthusiast, record warm temperatures aren't going to bode well for
me."

Transpower,
the government agency which owns the national electricity grid,
provided figures to The Associated Press showing that New Zealanders
consumed about 2 percent less electricity in June than they did
during the same month a year earlier, likely due in part to lower
heating requirements.

The
Transpower figures showed a June drop of 8 percent in Wellington and
7 percent in Christchurch compared with a year earlier. Those cities
are typically cooler in winter than the largest city, Auckland, where
the drop was 2 percent.

The
June month was the third-hottest June ever recorded in New Zealand
and the hottest ever recorded in Christchurch, according to the
research agency.

I've NEVER ONCE heard this referred to anywhere - sea temperatures in winter are still anomalously high in the Tasman Sea between NZ and Australia

Here's the situation elsewhere on the globe. Just look at the areas of sea and ocean (4C or 7.F higher than normal!)